- January 8, 2026
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Lakewood Ranch High Boys Hockey Coach Peter Sibner stood outside his home locker room Dec. 19 in the tunnels of the Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex.
He chuckled a bit to himself before offering an evaluation of what had just transpired on the ice.
"That wasn't by the book," Sibner said.
Sibner had watched the Mustangs put 45 shots on net while allowing just 12, but even so, they were trailing 3-2 midway through the second period.
Then came six unanswered goals for an 8-3 victory over Jesuit.
Making the win even more impressive was that the Mustangs were without their leading goal scorer, junior forward Chase Koski. They also were playing the second-best team in their conference.
With the win, Lakewood Ranch moved to 13-0 in the Lightning High School Hockey League for 2025-26.
"We've won hockey games this season in just about every fashion," Sibner said. "We blew out the team that we thought was going to be the best team in the league, and then we almost lost to the team we thought was going to be the worst team in the league."
They stand alone as the LHSHL's last undefeated squad among 19 member programs. The streak includes victories over Newsome (Fish Hawk), Steinbrenner and Jesuit — all of which are top-three in their respective conferences.
This season, though, has been transformative for other reasons.
It's the first time the group has competed as the "Lakewood Ranch Mustangs" after using "Manatee Admirals" since its inaugural season in 2013. Its roster is now built from Lakewood Ranch High and Braden River High, marking a slight change from its two catchments in 2024-25 — Lakewood Ranch and Parrish Community High.
Green, black and white now define their uniforms instead of red, black and gold. But this is largely the same cast of characters who reached the LHSHL West Conference Finals with the Admirals last season.
Sibner has overseen the transition as the third-year coach of the program. He's also a fifth-year coach with Gulf Coast Flames, a travel hockey club in the Statewide Florida Hockey League, and has seen many of these players grow up on the ice.
He's plenty familiar with the continuity at hand.
"I knew we had a very strong core, but I just did not know what our supporting cast was going to be," Sibner said. "Turns out, we got perfect role players for where we needed them. We got some boys leading the charge, some other boys picking up slack."
Junior forward Carter Bagshaw, Koski, and junior defenseman Jackson Ellis buoy the squad statistically with 22, 19 and 18 points, respectively. Koski's 11 goals and Bagshaw's 14 assists are both team-best marks to complement Ellis' six goals and 12 assists.
All three players have ties to the Flames, with Bagshaw and Ellis actively competing at the 18UAA level for the club. Koski played for 16UAA last season but switched to the Tampa Bay Juniors of United States Premier Hockey League Elite for 2025-26.
Lakewood Ranch hasn't just relied on that trio to fend off its foes. Depth has made it an even more daunting opponent for teams to face.
Nine Mustangs have scored at least five goals this season, and in terms of assists, 11 players boast five or more. Bagshaw is the only member of the team who sits in the top 20 league-wide for most points.
"One of our strengths is everyone plays everywhere," Ellis said. "Our defensemen jump up in the (offensive) zone, our forwards are all coming back and helping, we're criss-crossing in each zone. We just play as a very fluid unit."
A solid effort from their go-to goaltender has also paved the way to wins. Junior James DeVriendt has started all 13 games, posting a 2.05 goals against average and .878 save percentage, both the best numbers of his high school career.
Forward Liam Johnston and defenseman Robert Wayman — a pair of freshmen additions — have given Sibner crucial contributions in the attacking and defending zones. They've pitched in 26 points combined.
"We've got lucky with some pickups and then we got lucky with some freshmen," Bagshaw said. "That gave us the mindset we could go all the way."
The Mustangs are in search of their third "Lightning Cup," having previously won the LHSHL's championship in 2018 and 2015. Last season as the Admirals, they reached the 2025 West Conference Finals.
Over the past four-plus months, they've won in a variety of ways with "Lakewood Ranch" on their jerseys.
The group has won by as many as seven goals and as few as two. The team has lost the shots-on-goal battle and won. Wins have come with key players missing.
Regardless of how the job is done, the Mustangs have found a way.
"The (key) is resolve," Sibner said. "When we need to keep it clean in front of our own net, we can go out and do that. If we need a goal, we go out and get a goal."
